In comparison to other regions of our world, relatively little is known about Southeast Asia, wedged in between the two cultural giants of China and India. From the archaeological record, we know that Southeast Asia served as a bridge for trade and the ensuing exchange of ideas between China and India. The movement of language, religion and technology spread across the region from west to east and east to west and may be witnessed in the archaeology of Chinese Junks and Indian shipwrecks strewn across the ocean floor. Today, after thousands of years of occupation, the region presents a record rich with cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity.
A conclusive date of cultural beginnings has always evaded the archaeologist. Here, provenience and preservation are key concerns and are dependent upon the movement, interference and environmental conditions surrounding the artifact or site. It is important to remember that cultures presenting an abundance of material remains are by no means representative of the most advanced, or ‘developed’ cultural groups; cultures that lack material remains may have functioned under a technologically rich social organization. Many of the latter may be seen in Southeast Asia’s archaeological record. Artifacts constructed of perishable materials such as bamboo, wood and bone have long since decomposed, leaving the archaeological record with pottery, stone implements and in later times monumental architecture and an advanced bronze industry.